Salted Caramel Milk Chocolate Chip Cookie Recipe

I haven't been active for the past week on PhamFatale.com. We've spent a crazy holiday season, baking a ton! Here's one of the many chocolate chip cookie versions we made during the week. We used chocolate we received over Christmas, so these feature M&Ms and chunks of coarsely chopped Godiva salted caramel milk chocolate bars.

The secret to perfect texture for this timeless classic is to closely watch the baking time. Don't over-bake them but also don't under-cook them or you'll end up with just cookie dough! Happy baking!

Directions

Prepping the chocolate: Chop the chocolate bar into chunks a little smaller than ½".

Sifting the dry ingredients: In a bowl, combine the flour, baking soda and salt. Sift all the dry ingredients.

Making chocolate chip cookie dough:

In a mixing bowl, beat the egg with granulated sugar for about 5-6 minutes. You'll get a pale yellow foam and the texture of the egg will be thicker.

Alternately add the dry ingredients, brown sugar and butter to the egg and blend with your fingers until the cookie dough comes together. Add the vanilla paste and knead the dough until the color is uniform. Finish with the chocolate morsels and the M&Ms candies.

Form a 16-inch log. Wrap and chill it in the freezer until firm; it will take at least 30 minutes to harden. If you're planning on storing the dough and baking the cookies later, don't forget to label your food with the date! (see storing tips).

Baking cookies:

Remove the log from the freezer. Unwrap it and slice the logs into ½-inch thick disks. Place the cookies on a baking sheet lined with a silicone mat or a sheet of parchment paper. Make sure to space the cookies about 2 inches apart so they don't touch each other, as they'll expand while baking.

Bake between 10 and 12 minutes. Transfer the cookies to cooling racks. Allow to cool completely.

Bon appétit!

Tips

Instead of my usual 2 eggs in the cookie dough, I only added 1 egg for dense, crisper cookies.

You can store the dough for up to 4 weeks in the freezer for last-minute surprise guests. Chill the un-baked log of cookies in the freezer and cut it into disks when you're ready to bake.

You can store the baked cookies in an airtight metallic tin for up to a week to keep them fresh.